Jean Trounstine: Wilfred Dacier has earned parole; why isn't he out?

This week the Massachusetts Parole Board is meeting to redo regulations. One that should be at the top of its list is how to effectively parole prisoners who have some form of mental illness.

The United States now has 10 times more people in its prisons and jails than in its mental hospitals. As of 2013, approximately 25 percent of Massachusetts state prisoners (counties claim a much higher rate) had open mental- health cases. If you think the state has a parole system that is not broken in this arena, take a look at the Wilfred Dacier case.

No one disputes that Dacier committed an incredibly brutal crime. On Oct. 21, 1995, he stabbed his sister, Susan Dacier, 14 times in a domestic dispute. Wilfred Dacier pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, and was sentenced to life, eligible for parole in 15 years.

But his case reveals a Parole Board that seems bent on not releasing those who have committed life crimes -- even if they have proven themselves no longer a risk to reoffend; a board that refuses to pay for mental-health evaluations that are important for parolees' treatment; and a prisoner who is stuck behind bars solely because of his mental-health issues and not because he is a danger to the public.

At 38, Dacier, depressed after his father's death, had a cocaine habit. Susan Dacier, 35, supported the family. They lived together in Lowell with their mother until the latter was diagnosed with terminal cancer and moved to a nursing home.

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Dacier said his sister "harassed" him about his inability to keep a job and threatened to have him committed to a hospital. Psychologist Dr. Robert Kinscherff who evaluated Dacier for the Parole Board in 2015 stated that the stabbing was a culmination's of Mr. Dacier's "downward spiral."

Even before he was convicted, Dacier talked about killing himself. Back and forth he went to Bridgewater State Hospital. By 2004, he was at NCCI-Gardner, and diagnosed with Schizoaffective Disorder, a mental-health condition where hallucinations or delusions, mania and depression are hallmark symptoms. The illness was treated with medication, and by 2010, he'd successfully utilized the prison's treatment programs, moved into general population, held jobs, had only minor disciplinary infractions, and his adjustment was described as "excellent."

In 2010, after Dacier's first hearing, the board voted to grant him parole, dependent on release to a Department of Mental Health (DMH) "secure facility." But DMH decided Dacier did not need a secure placement. The Parole Board would not change its vote and Dacier languished in prison for three more years. As Dacier told Dr. Kinscherff, it felt like he was being punished for doing well in prison.

In 2014, the Parole Board again insisted upon a DMH evaluation and DMH again determined that Dacier was too high functioning for an inpatient facility. In 2015, the board asked Kinscherff to evaluate him. At the time, the board had the psychologist on contract, but has since terminated him, stating it is putting other priorities first.

Kinscherff's report explained that Dacier's "liberty interest" was not being protected in this half decade refusal of his freedom. It said that "public safety and Mr. Dacier would be best served were he to transition from incarceration to a DMH inpatient unit." But for certain, Kinscherff advised the board to go ahead with transitional placement and not continued imprisonment.

The board did not contact the DMH Commissioner as Kinscherff suggested or provide an alternate plan for release. In fact, says Joel Thompson, supervising attorney at the Harvard Prisoners Legal Assistance Project (PLAP), the board simply denied Dacier parole again, this time without issuing a formal decision. PLAP has asked the board to reconsider its decision, stating it is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Meanwhile, the board has issued 60 decisions in cases heard since September 2015, some involving inmates who have mental-health issues. The parole rate? Barely 10 percent. Keeping Wilfred Dacier behind bars at $53,000 a year? You do the math.

The writer is professor emerita of humanities at Middlesex Community College and the author of "Boy With A Knife: A Story about Murder, Remorse, and a Prisoner's Fight for Justice" (April 2016).

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